


Pizza is Better for Breakfast

by Jayth



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Cooking, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 01:21:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30148575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayth/pseuds/Jayth
Summary: V wants to do something special for Judy, but it blows up in her face!
Relationships: Judy Alvarez/V
Comments: 5
Kudos: 99
Collections: Lizzie's Bar





	Pizza is Better for Breakfast

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again to dingo8yourbaby, Zel (Profmarshmallow), Hexpresso (corchen) and everyone who encouraged me to keep writing on this.

Judy glared at the door to her office as it slid shut. She rolled her eyes and growled softly standing up suddenly and shoving her chair back. Her lip curled in a sneer, quietly mocking Suzie, as she walked to her editing chair and dropped into it. 

“Stupid fuckin’...” Her words trailed off into a grumble. She snatched her BD wreath off her desk and put it on. Judy sighed as she leaned back and propped her foot up on the desk. Editing was an escape, smut or whatever it didn’t really matter. She loved being able to turn the chaos of the raw scrolls into art. Right now she just needed to lose herself in her work and get away from all the bullshit. She settled in and got to work. She didn’t hear her office door slide open.

“Hey, Girl!” Rita poked at Judy’s knee with the tip of her bat. Judy did her best to ignore it but she just got prodded with the bat a few more times. 

“What?” Judy paused the edit and exited, sighing heavily. She pulled the wreath down and glared at Rita sullenly. 

“Woah Jude. Easy.” Rita took a step back, her bat settling back into its normal position against her shoulder. “What? I can’t come down and check on my girl? I saw Suzie come up.” Rita rolled her eyes. “She’s in a  _ mood _ today.” The bouncer leaned against Judy’s desk, bat still over her shoulder. “Figured you two got into it over somethin’ or other so.. I came down here to check!” She lifted her arms a bit, the bat end swinging dangerously close to one of Judy’s monitors.

Judy’s eyes widened. “Fuck! Rita, watch the bat!” Judy started to stand up but it was too late. Rita turned at Judy’s warning and the end of her bat made a solid thunk against the monitor.

“Oh, shit!” Rita winced at the sound and she very, very carefully let her bat slip off of her shoulder, resting the butt end of it on the floor. “Sorry, Judy.” 

Judy grimaced and let out a sigh. She eyed Rita as she stood and then walked back around the desk to check the monitor. “It’s fine. You didn’t kill it. Just.. watch the bat?” Judy tucked her hair behind her ear as she walked back to her editing chair and sat down again. “I’m fine. Thanks for checking. Suzie’s…” Judy waved a hand in the air as she spoke. “Suzie. You know. Just a lot of work to do today.” The whole reason she came into work early was so she could focus and not get interrupted. Lot of good that did.

“Speaking of work!” Rita seemed all too eager to latch onto the topic of Judy’s work. “I have this friend who was wondering if maybe…”

Judy didn’t even wait for Rita to finish; she just sighed again and held out her hand for the shard. “I’ll add it to the list of shit I got to do. It’ll be a few days, at least.”

  
  
  


Rita plopped the shard in Judy’s hand. “Thanks, Jude! You’re the best!” Judy just rolled her eyes slightly as she heard Rita head towards the door. 

“Yup. I know.” Judy tossed the new shard lightly onto her editing desk and leaned back into her chair. She pulled her wreath back up and settled in. Peace and quiet to get some work done. Finally! She loaded the edit up again and got to work.

Judy’s holo rang. “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” Judy huffed and just declined the call. She had no idea who it was, her HUD was off, but at this point she didn’t really care. She had just started to make some progress on the edit and she didn’t want to lose her focus. It was only a few moments before her holo rang again. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” She paused the edit and answered the damn call. “Yeah, what?”

“Oh...uh..” V sounded confused and she didn’t say anything for a very long time. “Uhm.. Bad time?”

“V!” Oh.. now Judy felt bad. She was glad she couldn’t see V’s face. “Fuck, I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was you.” Even with the interruption, and snapping at her girlfriend, Judy felt her mood improving. “It’s just been a… day.” V flashed that silly, adorable gonk grin when Judy finally turned her HUD back on. “Hey you.” Judy couldn’t help but grin back. “What’s up?” This was definitely an interruption she didn’t mind.

“So, are you going home?” V’s question caught Judy by surprise. The hell?

“I had planned on going home at some point, yes.” She couldn’t keep herself from chuckling as she answered. “But I’m going to be at work for a few more hours at least. Why?”

V hesitated and tilted her head. “I meant. So it’s going to be a few hours then?” Why did V sound happy about that?

“It won’t be too long.” Judy narrowed her eyes, smiling. What was V up to? “Everything okay?”

“Yeah! Everything’s fine, Judy.” V was trying her damndest to look innocent. “I was just curious. Didn’t know if it was going to be a late night or something.” V reached up and scratched at the back of her neck. “So.. do you mind if I just go there?” 

Judy’s grin only got bigger when she saw V wince after her last question. V was definitely up to something. “I gave you full access didn’t I?” She smirked a little at V’s reaction. “Of course I don’t mind!” Sometimes Judy had a very difficult time matching the V she was seeing now up with the woman’s growing reputation as a terrifying mercenary. “What are you up to, V?

  
  


V almost pulled off the innocent look. “I’m not up to anything!” Her tone gave her away. Judy just arched an eyebrow at her. “I’ll see you when you get home! Bye!” V rushed out the words and then hung up.

Judy could only gape as the call suddenly ended. She grunted quietly and shook her head. Even though V just  _ rudely _ hung up on her, Judy couldn’t stop smiling. She pulled her wreath up and once again settled in to edit. She had a good bit to get through before she could leave.

  
  


____________________________________________________________________________

V just grinned as she ended the call. That seemed to go well! She  _ gracefully  _ got out of the conversation before Judy got too curious about what she was up to! She glanced to her right and narrowed her eyes as Johnny appeared. ‘What?’ He was just standing there with his hand over his eyes.

“How are you so bad at this?” The man almost sounded like he was in actual pain. 

V snorted. ‘What? That went perfectly!’ She started towards her car, ready to get to work on her plan. She only had a few hours to get this all together! ‘I’m  _ awesome  _ at this.’ 

“Yeah. You keep tellin’ yourself that.” Johnny just sighed and shook his head.

V’s face screwed up in annoyance, clicking her tongue at the old Rocker. “Shut the fuck up.” She slid into the driver seat and glanced in the rear view mirror. “And why are you always sitting in the back seat?”

“I like the back seat! Room to stretch out.” V only rolled her eyes at the man as she pulled into Night City traffic.

First stop was to get the stuff she needed. V got to the grocery store in record time. Easy to do when you ignore the fact that there are traffic laws. She grabbed a basket on her way in and pulled up a page on her HUD. Most of the things she got were the common synth versions. But she did at least splurge on real rice. Her trip through the grocery was thankfully Johnny free. She gathered everything she needed and headed for the checkout. 

V set the bags in the trunk of her car and got behind the wheel. When she looked into the rear view to back up she was greeted with an annoyed expression from Johnny. “Why are you even wasting your time and money with this shit?”

“Because I want to.” V answered without hesitation. Johnny’s expression didn’t change. “I want to do something special for her! I don’t get how that’s hard to understand?” V frowned. “Now move I can’t see.”

Johnny scoffed and threw himself back to stretch out on the back seat. “I just don’t get it? You should just forget this whole cooking thing, take a nap and get take out. All of this..” The rocker waved his hand. “Isn’t worth it for this chick. She’d be just as happy with take out.” 

“I think I figured out why you always sit in the back seat.” V glanced at the rear view mirror as she weaved in and out of traffic. The confusion on Johnny’s face made V smirk. “No offense, But, I know your history with women. So I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t take your advice.” Johnny shot her another annoyed expression. “Look, it’s simple. I care about Judy. So I want to do something special for her to let her know that I care about her. See? Simple.” V glanced back through the mirror again to see if she got through to Johnny.

Johnny only grunted and crossed his arms. He was staring sullenly out the window, pouting. Baby. V turned the radio to a station she knew Johnny would hate and flashed him a grin. The rest of the trip to Judy’s place was spent in silence, aside from the radio. Johnny didn’t stop his sulking in the back seat, not even to bitch about the radio. That suited V just fine.

V pulled into the parking lot of Judy’s apartment and hopped out of the car. She gathered the bags from the trunk and eyed Johnny still sulking in the back seat. ‘You just going to keep pouting?’ She pushed the trunk shut with her elbow and then shrugged as she headed into the building and up to Judy’s apartment. 

It was different walking into Judy’s apartment when Judy wasn’t home. She’d been there alone before when Judy had let her sleep on the couch, but this was different. V felt her lips tug into a small smile as she started emptying the bags out on the counter. 

“Do you even know how to cook?” Johnny appeared sitting on the window sill.

“Finally decide to stop pouting?” V asked as she started opening cabinets looking for the pots and pans. “I can follow instructions. How hard could it be?” V frowned as she started to pull out pots and pans. She eyed them and then pulled up a page on her phone.

“I don’t pout.” Johnny said in a decidedly pouty tone. He laughed as V eyed the pots and pans and she didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking. “You know what? You’re right V. How hard could it be?” Johnny hopped off the window sill and strolled over to lay on the couch. He folded his arms behind his head. "This should be interesting."

V just sneered at Johnny as she pulled out a bowl and started to measure out ingredients according to the recipe. Mostly. “See! It’s not that hard.” She glanced at Johnny as she stirred the mixture in the bowl. Johnny didn’t say anything but she  _ felt _ his amusement in the back of her head like a little bubble of laughter. She frowned. “Is it supposed to be lumpy like that?” She narrowed her eyes at the mixture and stirred it harder, splashing some out of the bowl. Ugh. The lumps weren’t really going away. Whatever it’s fine. Johnny just chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah.. Laugh it up.” V replied as she moved on to cutting the vegetables. The veggie cutting at least went mostly smooth, she only nicked her finger a little bit cutting the synth veggie patties into thin strips. Then she got out the synth ‘beef steaks’ and cut them into strips. There was more than she needed but, she figured a little extra as back up just in case couldn’t hurt, right? V poured some oil in a pan and set it on the stove and turned the burner on. She dropped some of the ‘meat’ into the skillet and stirred it a little. Yeah, this was going alright!

V stirred the meat around until it looked like it was done, and then set the pan aside and pulled out another one. She poured some oil in that pan and plopped the veggie strips in that one. “Okay.. so now the rice..” She gave the veggies one last little stir and set about looking for a pot to cook the rice in. The pot wasn’t too difficult to find, but finding the right lid for it, that was the tricky part. V spent a good amount of time trying different lids before she finally found the right one. She took the pot to the sink and started filling it with water.

Johnny just started chuckling quietly. V rolled her eyes and then sniffed at the air. The hell was that smell… SHIT! V spun around quickly and grabbed the handle of the pan and the spatula and tried to stir the burning veggie sticks. They didn’t move. “Fuck.” Johnny’s chuckle turned into a laugh. “You know you could help me out here instead of sitting over there laughing like an asshole.” V spat out as she tried to dislodge some of the veggies.

“Do I look like someone who knows how to cook?” Johnny snapped back. V Finally managed to pry one of the synth-veggie sticks off of the pan. Johnny dissolved in laughter as the stick shot back towards V, bouncing off her cheek and skittering to a stop in the middle of the floor. It took a good minute or two before he was able to speak again. “Besides..” The word was cut off by another burst of laughter, and instead of finishing the thought he just ran his hand through the coffee table. How was he supposed to help? “How hard could it be…” Johnny finally managed out, the words strangled by his laughter. 

V just growled and dropped the pan in the sink to deal with later. “Okay.. Okay It’s okay. I’ve got extra. I planned ahead.” So V started cutting more veggie strips out. This time she filled the rice pot with water and dumped some rice in it  _ before _ she started cooking the strips. She turned the burner on under the rice and started cooking up the synth-veggies again. “I can clear out a building full of Tyger Claws on my own. I can manage cooking fucking dinner.” V’s mutter only caused Johnny to laugh again.

Finally V got the veggie strips cooked well enough and she looked over the recipe again and glanced at the time. She still had time! She dumped the veggies in with the meat strips and set the pan in the sink with the others and grabbed out another pan. She poured the first mixture she made into the pan, and then dumped the meat and veggies into that. V was just starting to smile at everything coming together when she heard a loud sizzle. The rice pot had started boiling over. It pushed the lid of the pot up and started frothing over the sides and all over the stove top. “Oh.. For fuck sake!” She made a grab for the pot only to pull her hand back and hiss slightly. 

V finally managed to get the pot off the stove, but not before the rice at the bottom had burned. She tried to scoop out as much of it as possible, but most of it had stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot so she just left the whole thing in the sink and went in search of another pot and lid. She got the rice set back up and cooking, and returned to stirring the mixture in the pan. It had started to stick to the bottom but she caught it in time, scraping at the bottom as she stirred to try and mix it all back up and hopefully salvage it. Maybe she should have listened to Johnny in the first place. But everything was coming together now and she turned the heat to the pan off. Just had to wait for the rice to finish and Judy to get home! Everything was going to be fine!

  
  


___________________________________________________________________________

Judy finished putting the final touches on the virtu she was working on and exited her editing programs. She blinked a few times as she removed the BD wreath and set it aside. She gave her head a quick, small shake and grimaced. After the call from V, Judy found it easy to just dive into the edits and breeze right through them. Though that meant Judy ended up not taking as many breaks as she knew she should. She was feeling the effects of that now. She pinched the bridge of her nose lightly and let her eyes drift closed. Shit. She took a few moments to sit back in her chair and rub at the side of her head, keeping her eyes closed. 

A few moments was all it really took for Judy to get herself together. The headache was still gnawing at the back of her brain but it was manageable now. She mentally scolded herself. She knew better than to go too long without a break, but she was ready to get through all her work and get home. She had someone waiting for her at home, after all. Someone who was most certainly up to something and Judy wanted to know what exactly her girl was up to.  _ Her _ girl. That thought brought a little grin to Judy’s lips as she started shutting everything down and gathering her things. That grin refused to go away even as she locked up her office and headed out.

Judy checked the time and she smirked a little. Finished everything on her agenda for the day a little earlier than she expected. Awesome! She made her way towards the back exit, and her van. 

“Well you certainly seem in a better mood than you were earlier.” Rita eyed Judy with good natured suspicion. Apparently the bouncer was on a break. “In a hurry to get out too.” Rita studied the techie for a few moments. “You got a hot date or somethin’?” 

“As a matter of fact, I do!” Judy said as she turned to push the door open with her back, flashing Rita a bright grin. “See you tomorrow!” Judy threw up a wave and a small laugh at Rita’s expression as she left. 

Night City traffic was the worst. It was enough to suck the good mood out of anyone and Judy was no exception. She sighed and grumbled as she barely avoided getting side swiped by someone who was too impatient to wait for the light. That shit was why Judy usually walked to work. The short distance between Lizzie’s and Judy’s apartment took so much longer than it should have. By the time Judy got to her apartment her mood had soured slightly and she was just ready to get home and relax. She tossed a small wave to one of her neighbors as she headed up the stairs. Finally, home.

Judy wasn’t entirely sure what she was expecting to find when she got home, but she certainly wasn’t expecting an utterly destroyed kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw what looked to be every single pot and pan she owned piled all over the counters, stove and sink. Splashes of whatever V had been cooking all over the kitchen. Judy just stared at the destruction, her mouth falling open just a bit. 

Judy’s eye twitched slightly and she felt like crying, just a little. What.. the fuck had V done to her kitchen? Her eyes shifted to V who was putting whatever it was she had made onto a plate. V’s back was to her, she could sneak up on the merc and strangle her, didn’t seem like it would be too hard. V was distracted. Or maybe she could beat her to death with one of the ruined pans? Judy closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She let it out slowly and when she opened her eyes again V was standing there smiling and holding out a plate of food. “I made dinner!” The look on V’s face somehow managed to melt most of the anger away in an instant. 

“...I see…” Judy didn’t know how to react. The state of her kitchen made her want to rage but for some reason she just couldn’t stay mad. She took another deep breath and headed over to one of the stools at the kitchen island. She had to clear off a spot when she sat.

As soon as Judy sat down V set the plate down in front of her. V looked so nervous, but so proud of herself. The merc winced as she looked at the destruction around her. At least the other woman realized the mess she had made of the kitchen. “I know it’s a mess but... “ V shook her head and smiled again. “You eat.. I’ll clean off a spot then join you!”

How did V manage to do that? Judy was so angry about the mess the kitchen had become. But then she looked at V and she just felt happy. She couldn’t even be properly angry! How could she be angry when V looked at her like that? Judy couldn’t help but smile. V was adorable. Beautiful and adorable. “You’ve been busy.” Well if she couldn’t be mad about the whole thing might as well joke about it. She looked down at the food on her plate and back up at V. “Thanks.” Even with the destroyed kitchen this was the nicest thing Judy could remember anyone ever doing for her. Judy’s heart swelled and she picked up her fork and took a bite as V began clearing off space next to her. 

As soon as Judy put the food in her mouth, she froze. Oh. Oh God! It was.. Horrible. There was an overwhelming burnt taste to the whole thing. The sauce the meat and veggies were in was thinner than it should have been, almost like a thin slime, and it was lumpy. She flicked a glance towards V who was busy clearing off that counter space next to her. Shit. V looked over at her and smiled brightly. Judy slowly pulled the fork out of her mouth and tried her best to smile back at V. Finally Judy started chewing and it only got worse. The rice was overly mushy on the outside but somehow it had an unpleasant crunch to it as well. Oh.. no. She was trying to keep her expression happy, trying to keep the disgust she was feeling hidden. She had no idea if she was managing it. She chewed and managed to get the food down. Then she looked at her plate again. There was so much left to eat. “Could… you get me a water?”

When V headed to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water Judy started looking for ways she could get rid of what was on her plate. But there really wasn’t a way to do it without being obvious. She was going to have to eat the whole thing and pretend to like it. When she looked back up V was offering her the water. Judy forced out a small smile, took the water and downed nearly half of it trying to wash the taste out of her mouth. “How is it?” 

Judy barely stopped herself from groaning. V looked so hopeful. There was no way Judy could crush her by telling her the truth about the food she’d cooked. It was horrible. So she just nodded instead and looked back at the food. “It’s uhm… It’s.. good.” She was trying her best to lie. So to prove her point she took another, smaller, bite. See. Convincing.

Judy’s heart ached when she saw V’s hopeful expression fall. Damn it why did she have to be such a terrible liar? “It’s not good, is it?” The disappointment in V’s voice  _ broke  _ Judy’s heart.

“No! V, It’s fine! It’s good! Really!” Judy tried to tell a better lie this time, but even she could tell she wasn’t being convincing. Damn it. Judy desperately wanted to say something to get rid of that disappointed look on V’s face “I’m just tired is all.” 

V pressed her lips together and eyed Judy. “You want me to just get a pizza delivered or something?” 

Judy looked at her plate of food and then back at V guiltily. “No. It’s fine, V I like it!” Third time’s a charm? Maybe this time she’d be able to tell the lie and make it convincing? Pizza sounded really good though. Then V grabbed a fork and stole a bite to taste. Judy could only wince slightly. The lie didn’t work.

V paused as she tasted the food she had made for the first time. She grabbed a napkin and spit it back out and tossed the napkin in the trash can. The merc’s hud glowed red against her eyes for a moment and then a quick flash of blue. “I ordered a pizza.” V didn’t even look at her when she took the plate and started scraping it into the trash can as well. “Go relax. I’ll get this cleaned up. Then we’ll have pizza when it gets here.”

Judy wasn’t sure what to do. V looked and sounded so disappointed and defeated. She just watched the other woman for a moment and then headed to her room to change out of the clothes she’d been in all day. It didn’t take her long to get out of the overalls and into some comfy sweat pants and an old tee. She leaned against the door frame of her bedroom instead of just walking back into the living area of the apartment.

V was making quick work of the clean-up. She’d already gotten through washing most of the pans. Only the worst of the pots and pans remained and were soaking. V was wiping down the counters and the stove and shooting angry looks towards the window. Judy frowned when she heard V mumbling under her breath. She couldn’t catch most of what the other woman was saying. One thing was louder than everything else, and that Judy did hear. “Fine. Yeah you told me so.” Oh, V.

Judy pushed off the door frame and walked up behind her girlfriend. She cleared her throat softly as she approached so she didn’t startle the woman. “Thank you.” She said quietly and wrapped her arms around V’s waist and leaned her head against her back. Judy grinned at the sharp intake of breath she got, and then frowned when V only grunted in response. She took a step back and pulled lightly on V’s arm to try and get her to turn around. It worked but V still wouldn’t look at her. 

“Hey, I mean it.” Judy stepped back in, and brought her hands up to V’s shoulders. “So maybe the food wasn’t great but I still loved it.” Judy slid her hands from V’s shoulders to rest against her neck. She gently tried to get V to look at her. 

Finally V met her eye briefly. “I just..” V sighed and glanced away again, blushing. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. Something special. All I did was just make a mess.” Oh. Judy understood now. V wasn’t upset that she didn’t like the food. Not really. V was embarrassed.

“You did! This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, V.” Judy moved a little bit closer so that there was barely any space between them. “So if you were trying to do something nice and special, then it was a huge success.” V looked at her again and Judy grinned when she saw the beginnings of a smile. She leaned up to press a light kiss to V’s lips and felt V’s arms wrap around her. When V pulled her closer, eliminating what little space there had been between them… The door buzzed obnoxiously. They tried to ignore it but it buzzed again. Judy growled softly and broke the kiss. “Goddamn it.” She huffed and took a step back as the door buzzed yet again. “Hold on a sec, fuck!” Then she headed to get the pizza. Stupid fucking pizza. Terrible fucking timing. 

Judy took the pizza and let the door slide shut. She certainly wasn’t in the mood to eat pizza any more, that’s for sure. She walked it back to the kitchen and set the box on the counter.“Pizza’s here.” Judy eyed the pizza box, then glanced at V and smirked. Instead of grabbing a slice she just started walking backwards towards her room, she only turned around when she saw V start to follow.

Pizza is better for breakfast anyway.


End file.
